The samosa is the snack most people meet Indian food through. A simple dough of flour, oil and water is rolled thin, cut and folded into a cone, then filled with a mixture of boiled potato and green peas seasoned with cumin, coriander seed, turmeric, ginger, green chilli and often a little dried mango powder for tartness. The cone is sealed into its familiar triangle and deep fried slowly, which is what gives the pastry its blistered, flaky crust rather than a soft one.
A good samosa is crisp at the corners and yielding in the middle, with a filling that is dry and savoury rather than wet. It is usually eaten with chutney — tamarind for sweetness, coriander-mint for freshness — and almost always with tea. The chai-and-samosa pairing is as fixed as coffee and a pastry, so ordering one with a hot chai is the obvious move. Alongside other street food such as pani puri or pav bhaji it makes an easy shared starter, and it is a good opener before a main like paneer butter masala.
Cafe Junoon fries samosas for dine-in at our Cornerstone cafe, 110 Corner Meadows Manor NE, and boxes them for takeout and local delivery across Northeast Calgary — Skyview Ranch, Redstone, Cityscape, Saddle Ridge, Savanna, Martindale, Taradale and neighbouring communities. Samosas are one of the easiest things to order in quantity, so they are a common request for catering house parties and office lunches; see the menu or contact us to arrange a tray.
